Patrick m



UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK M. CUNNINGHAM, on NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE BRUNSWIOK-BALKE-OOLLENDERCOMPANY, OF sAME PLACE.

POCKET. BlLLrlARD TABLEl SPECIFIGATEIO N fOrming part of Letters Patent No. 573,262, dated December 15, 1896. Applicationfiled August 26, 1896. Serial No. 603,954. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PATRICK M. CUNNING- HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pocket Billiard-Tables, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to billiard-tables provided with pockets and to that species of pocket-tables (used mostly for the game of fifteen-ball pool) in which bottomless pockets are used that communicate with the outer ends of a series of ball conduits or gutters, by means of which all the holed balls are antomatically conducted from the several pockets of the table into a receptacle at the foot of the table and beneath its bed in a manner and for the purposes well known.

On May 5, 1896, United States Letters Patent were granted to me, (as assignor to the Bru11swickBalke-Gollendcr Company,) No. 559,790, for an improvement in the abovestated kind of billiard-tables, which improvement or invention consists, mainly, in a device adapted for use in connection with the usual pocket-iron and ball-conduit, which device has a cup-shaped outer end extending nearly up to the pocket-iron and attached securely to a slightly-depending portion of the pocketiron leather, the said device also having an inner end, gutter-shaped, and connected with or forming a continuation of the ball-conduit or concealed alley-way of the table. The construction made the subject of my said Letters Patent is now and has been for some time back in very extensive public use; and the invention or improvement made the subject of my present application has for its object to overcome certain objections in the practical use of my patented contrivance, as will be hereinafter explained.

In the construction of pool-tables according to my patented invention it is necessary, for

the manufacture and sale of the pool-tables,

in setting up the tables or assembling the parts at the factory, (as has to be done in the case of all billiard-tables, which are of course subsequently taken apart and then reassemrt'able works perfectly. table again the lacing betweenthe pocketbled or set up in the billiard-parlor or place where the tables are finally delivered,) after 1 having put the legs and framework of the table ion-rails, then fasten in place the pocket-irons,

and, finally, to secure, by lacing, as shown in my patent, the outer upper edge of the cup- :like portion of the ball-receiver to the leather of the pocket-iron, all the working parts of the table, including the ball receivers and re ceptacles, being then tested in theusual manner to determine that everything about the In taking down the iron leather and the ball-receiver has to be cut and removed in order to take the table apart, the several devices being separated in the reverse order in which their assemblage has just above been explained, the assembled relationship of all the parts being marked,

as usual, so that whenthe table shall again .be set up for use all the parts will be reassembled with the perfection established by the test at the factory; Now, in the first place, according to this necessary mode of procedure, it has been found in practice that there is liability in taking apart the table, af-

ter setting it up for trial or test, to strike the outer cup-like portions of the ball-receiver devices, (which cannot, of course, be imtacked and removed from the outer ends of the alley-ways until after the removal of the slabs;) and, further than this, a great objection has been found because of the necessity to repeat the operation of lacing the outer ends of the ball-receivers to the pocket-iron leathers in finally fitting up the table for use, as this has to be doneat the place where the tables are put up by setters-up of tables, and not only does this operation of lacing together these parts have to be done twice in the course of manufacture and sale of the table, but it cannot always be done as successfully and perfectly by those who set up the tables at their final destination as by men at the factory, who make a specialty of doing this work and become expert at it. Further than this, whenever a table in use has to be overhauled, as it is called, or repaired, a disruption has to be effected between the ballreceiving device and the pocket-iron leathers, of course, before the cushion-rails of the table can be removed and the other parts (if necessary) separated for repair or adjustment.

I propose by my present invention to overcome all these objections and difficulties in the use of my patented construction of pooltables and to provide for use this species of table changed and improved in construction, so that the ball-receiving devices and pocketiron leathers, after having once been adjusted in a united condition in assembling the parts of the table for trial at the factory, need never be disunited, but can (together with the pocket-irons) be assembled with the other parts of the table in setting it up for final use, and so that all the parts of the table may be detached or separated at will for repairs of the table without everdisru ptin g the union between the devices constituting the whole pocket mechanism proper.

To these ends and objects my invention consists, essentially, in a device adapted for use in connection with the usual pocket-iron and ball-conduit which has a cup-shaped outer end extending nearly up to the pocket-iron and attached securely to a depending portion of the pocket-iron leather, the said device also having its inner end gutter-shaped and the upper edges of its gutter-shaped portion inclined or tapered and adapted to fit within the outer portion of the ball-conduit, so as to form a continuation thereof, in combination with inclined housings or holder devices on the inner surfaces of the outward extension of the ball-conduits, with which housings the upper inclined edges of the guttershaped portions of the ball-receiving device engage, (when said device is pushed inwardly into the proper position in assembling the parts of the table,) all as will be hereinafter more fully explained and as will be most particularly pointed out in the claim of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvement relates to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the latter, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown my improvement carried out in that precise form of parts in which I have so far practiced it,although modifications may,of course,

be made without departing from my inventoward the bottom of the receiving device, as these edges run from the cup-shaped portion to the inner end of the ball-receiver. Fig. 2 is a partial central section through a billiardtable bed and the pocket mechanism or devices thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail vertical crosssection at the line a: so of Fig. 2.

In the several figures the same part will be found always designated by the same letter of reference.

A is the bed of the table, formed with the usual cut-outs at the vicinities of the pockets, of which thereare. usually six, and provided with the usual cushions B and cushionrails, of which there are usually six, the adjacent ends of which rails have secured to them in the usual manner the pocket-irons cl, all as well understood by the billiard-table manufacturer.

From the vicinities of the lower portions of the pockets, or rather of the holes into which the balls are played, extend inwardly of and beneath the bed of the table the usual ball-conduit or concealed alley-ways, (not shown,) which conduct the holed balls to the common receptacle therefor, all as well understood.

To the walls or inner surfaces of the gutter-like cut-outs or conduit extensions, that are formed, as usual, in the frame of the table, are securely fastened, (by screws or otherwise,) two to each extension, a pair of undercut or grooved wooden housings f f, (see Figs. 2 and 3,) which perform the function of holding, both downwardly and laterally, the inclined upper edges of the gutter portion t' of the leather ball-receiver I, the outer cupshaped portion of which has its upper edge laced fast, as seen at o, to the leather on of the pocket-iron d.

As usual, each pocket-iron is cast with a teat s projecting downwardly from the under surface of each straight end portion and is secured in position to the adjacent ends of two cushion-rails by vertical bolts passing vertically through the cushion-rails and engaging with said teats.

As will be plainly seen from the drawings, (especially by reference to Fig. 2,) the upper edges of the gutter-like portion i of the ballreceiver, instead of running in planes parallel with the bottom or lowermost part of the receiver, gas in the case of my patented construction, lie in a plane oblique to the bottom line of the part 2'; or, in other words, these upper edges are inclined or run downwardly (relatively to the bottom of the gutter) from the point 1 to the point 2, and the confining-housings ff are arranged in like inclined positions. By this combined arrangement of the parts it will be seen that the instant the device I is slid or pulled outwardly in its seat within the conduit extension formed in the framework of the table the inclined upper edges of the part i are drawn out of contact with the stationary holddown devices f f, so that the outer portion of teats s are not very long the device I can be slightly lifted, and inasmuch as this capacity to lift up the outer end of the ball-receiver increases as the latter is further moved inwardly and as the tapering (and do not fit tightly in the wooden cushion-rails) it follows that by a combined outward and upward movement of the united pocket devicesz. e., the united receiver I and leathered pocket-iron d--these assembled parts or this group of devices may be separated from the other parts of the table,

after the removal of the pocket-iron bolts, without even first removing the cushion-rails, (as was necessary heretofore,).and thus in taking down the table, after it shall have been first set up, (at the factory,) there is no neces sit-y to disconnect the receiver I and the leathered pocket-iron to which it has been laced. These parts or devices, after having been perfectly put together at the factory,

remain ever afterward assembled, and in again setting up the table for use by the purchaser, and whenever thereafter (in overhauling the table) the pocket mechanism may have been removed, this group of devices is easily replaced by simply sliding the receiver and its attachments into place with a combined inward and downward motion of the parts to properly seat the gutter-shaped part c and enter the teats s in their receptacles in the cushion-rails, the group of united parts being then fastened in place by means of the pocket iron bolts, operating in the usual manner.

Preferably, as in the case of my patented construction hereinbefore referred to, the cup-shaped portion of the ball-receiver (when made of leather or other non-metallic substance) is secured near each of its inner upper corners, by means of a carpet-tack, t0 the ends of the wooden cushion rails, and of 7 course in taking out of place and reassembling with the rest of the table the group of devices composing the pocket mechanism these tacks have to be removed and reinserted. This is very easily done, as they are perfectly accessible to the workman.

It will be understood, of course, that the degree of obliquity given to the upper edges of the portion 71 of the receiver (and to the confining cleats or housings f f need be only sufficient to permit the removal and replacement of the group of assembled devices (when the pocket-iron bolts are removed and the tacks at w, see Fig. 2, removed) in the manner I have explained, and it will be seen that, made according to my present improvement, a pool or pocket billiard table of the type made the subject of my patent hereinbefore mentioned possesses the great advantage of a capacity for the setting up of the table when sold and for the overhauling or repairing of the table without anydisruption of the several devices which combined constitute the whole pocket mechanism proper.

I11 practice the means shown for retaining in} Working position the inwardly-extended gutter-like portion '5 of the ball-recei ver-i. e.

the securing cleats or housings ff'is just as reliable and efficient as the tacking ofthis part of the receiver to the framework of the table, as shown in my said patent, since the part i of the receiver, fitting as it does within the conduit extension formed in said framework or being perfectly seated therein, is perfectly held in place by the said housings, which sufficiently hold in place the upper edges of the part 2' of the receiver, both laterally and against any tendency to rise, while the said part is supported vertically by its seating on the conduit extension.

Having now tion that those skilled in the art can make and use the same, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

I11 combination with the framework and cushion-rails of a concealed alley-Way pooltable, the usual, leathered, pocket-iron; a ball-receiver having a gutter-like portion fitting within the outward extension of one of the ball-conduits of the table, also having its outer, cup-shaped portion united to the pocket-iron leather, and having the upper edges of its gutter-like portion inclined; and obliquely-arranged housings, or confining devices, operating to embrace and hold in place the said upper edges of the ball-receiver; all substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of August, 1896.

' PATRICK M. CUNNINGHAM.

In presence of- ERNEST J. TAROF, JAMES J. BYRNES.

so fully explained my inven- 

